November 5 2020

Viruses: How to Protect Your Gaming Devices

The digital world is never fully prepared to combat cybercriminal activities that are escalating every day. Sophisticated viruses are in circulation and are affecting users differently. If you’re a gamer, nothing will sink your spirit as playing a game on an underperforming device. Most malware will drag a computer’s performance to a crawl.

Preventing malicious attacks is more favorable than having to go through the expensive restoration processes later. To minimize the risks of malware attacks on your gaming PC, install an effective antivirus solution. You can find a perfect antivirus by reading online reviews such as, Avast vs. PCMatic: Which one to choose in 2020?. These comparisons of top-rated antivirus programs may help you to choose wisely.

In this regard, you should know what to expect from viruses.

Viruses’ Actions

Viruses are capable of doing several unpleasant things once they infect a PC. If a computer virus attacks it, a lot of files can be compromised. You may begin to experience slowness, software crashes, or permanent hardware damage. And also, your sensitive information such as log-in credentials and credit card data may be stolen.

However, there are even scarier things they can do. Firstly, they can create a zombie network (botnet), which is a nexus of corrupted computer devices that are controlled through a control server. The owner of the malicious code is the one with ultimate control of the command & control server. The botnet enables the owner to have access to large amounts of information and to initiate large-scale attacks. While so doing, each computer on the network becomes overwhelmed and drops in performance.

Secondly, the viruses can work on individual devices, mining the user’s information, including login credentials, passwords, and credit card information. To achieve this, viruses initiate keylogging and website monitoring. Whenever they find the user on a banking webpage, they record all log-in keystrokes. This means when your PC is infected, purchasing any games online will be a risky activity. Your banking/ credit card information can easily be stolen.

How Do You Get Infected

There are a variety of ways through which viruses can infect your devices. However, three of the most common methods used are downloads of infected programs, e.g., video games, spam messages, and drive-by downloads.

Unsafe applications

You should be careful when downloading gaming applications online. Cybercriminals are working non-stop to exploit any gaps they can find in the walls of security. And also, when you play online games, you should pay special attention to the buttons downloading virtual “equipment” or “weapons.” Hackers take advantage of these things to spread their malicious software.

Spam messages

Spam messages naturally come as emails. In other instances, they may come as campaign messages or posts on social media sites. The attackers will embed a link that causes you to download the virus inside the news.

If you take the bait, the malware will be installed on your PC and steal your account login credentials. Having access to your social media and email accounts will enable hackers to further their agendas. They can use your legitimate accounts to send more spam messages and hence expand their range.

Drive-by downloads

Drive-by downloads occur when hackers have the capacity to corrupt legitimate sites on the internet. All they have to do is to insert a malicious code into a very trusted website. The malware will automatically install itself when the unsuspecting user opens the website or downloads a benign program or game application.

Viruses & mobile devices

Mobile devices are not safe from viruses. The way computers suffer from malware attacks is the same for phones and tablets. Your phone can be infected through unsafe applications, spammed messages, and drive-by downloads.

How can you protect your devices?

As you know now, from to expect the threat, it is worth saying several words about the possible protection. Your device, as any castle, may have strong walls and towers. However, as in the case with the famous sieges, the human factor plays a significant role in winning the battle. Here are some tips to follow:

  • Safe internet practices

It’s essential to exercise safe internet practices. In fact, this is the first important step in the fight against malware. Avoid visiting potentially dangerous websites such as those offering illegal free downloads of gaming software, flight simulators, 3D graphics, music, and adult material. Usually, the owners are hackers, and if not, they have no problem giving malware owners full rights to hosting malicious software on their websites.

  • Avoid following random links

It is important to avoid clicking on links that come in social media messages and emails. You may only click on the link in messages that you have been expecting. Even if the notification comes from a trusted source, it’s best never to open it. If a virus attacked the source, the message could be corrupt and may also infect your device.

  • Adopt the two-factor authentication

Although some viruses are believed to pass some banking security features, using two or multi-factor authentication makes the invasion harder. The two-factor authentication is where the banking site sends a login code of confirmation to your phone. This is to ensure that when you want to make online purchases, your banking credentials remain secure.

  • Install an effective antivirus solution

Today, all computers and mobile devices should have an up-to-date antivirus solution installed.

The antivirus you choose should have strong anti-phishing and password management tools. The anti-phishing feature will notify you before you open an unsafe website. Additionally, it can detect when a Trojan stealthily tries to download, install, or run on your device. Having an antivirus also helps to eliminate malware that already exists on your device. Besides, if you are a gamer, think about Gamer Mode, it might be helpful.

There are plenty of antivirus solutions out there that promise a variety of features and treats. You have to select the best of the best from a renowned developer to be adequately secured. Having an effective antivirus program will guarantee your protection against any virus.

Conclusion

Over the past few decades, viruses have infected millions of computers and caused so much inconvenience. Users have lost their data, money, and their devices as well. Video gamers also suffer from poor computer performance.

Knowing the existence of viruses is not good enough. Users have to take steps to protect their devices from being attacked. Installing an effective cybersecurity solution and dropping bad habits when surfing on the internet is the best way to get started. It will save you from unnecessary headaches and pain that come from running a slow PC or losing your financial information to hackers.

 


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Game Gavel